Developments in Iraq's Oil Fields

The Associated Press

Published 8:00 pm, Tuesday, April 8, 2003

Latest developments regarding Iraq's oil, world oil markets:

THE OIL FIELDS: Kurdish forces seized a strategic hilltop near the northern city of Mosul on Wednesday, a day after tightening their ring around the nearby oil center of Kirkuk. Saddam Hussein's government still controls the Kirkuk oil field, the center of Iraq's second-biggest oil region, but Kurdish media reported that Kurdish militia were within six miles of Kirkuk.

In the southern field of Rumeila South, Kuwaiti firefighters were refilling a manmade lagoon with water Wednesday to attack one remaining fire. The team re-excavated the lagoon and laid new plastic lining after it leaked. The Kuwaitis expected to have enough water to begin attacking the last fire on Thursday, said team leader Aisa Bouyabes. American firefighters from Houston-based Boots & Coots International Well Control were working to stop crude from gushing at a damaged well head nearby.

Both wells were among about a dozen that Iraqis sabotaged in Rumeila South. U.S. and British forces have now secured 900 out of 1,000 wells in oil fields in southern Iraq. No oil is being exported from southern Iraq.

THE MARKET: Crude prices rose Wednesday as markets anticipated that OPEC might decide later this month to cut production. On London's International Petroleum Exchange, North Sea Brent futures for May delivery were trading 35 cents higher in the evening at $24.95 a barrel. The May contract for U.S. light, sweet crude rose 23 cents at $28.23 a barrel in afternoon trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.